Warming Up
by Saiph Nebula
Summary: Post MGS1, Snake/Meryl pairing. Written as a challange, a Sn/Me 'lemon' with plot-like content! Non-explicit, but rated M anyway.


"Where are we going?" Meryl shouted over the loud hum of the snowmobile's engine.

"Anywhere, as long as it's far from here!" Snake called back over his shoulder.

Meryl nodded against his back, feeling her arms and legs begin to ache from cold and exhaustion, not to mention her injuries that were still being healed by her nanomachines. She tried nestling further into Snake's back and wrapped her arms around his waist even tighter, hoping to absorb some of his body-heat. Unfortunately his sneaking suit kept most of it safely sealed away, leaving her to simply try and hide from the wind behind his broad shoulders.

It wasn't all bad though; her hands accidentally brushed the firm muscles of his stomach and his strong physique felt good against her cheek. She wondered what it would feel like to touch him like this without the damn suit and body warmers between them...

"We need to get out of Alaska, it won't take long for government hounds to come sniffing," Snake continued, oblivious to her thoughts.

"Yeah, of course... what about your home?" Meryl replied, being pulled from her thoughts somewhat resentfully.

Snake paused, thinking less about abandoning his isolated residence and more about his dogs. He couldn't just leave them behind, caged in their kennels...

"We'll make a quick stop before we leave," he told her, "An hour at most. Then we go."

He'd simply have to release them into the wild and hope they found their way. They were wolf-dogs after all, they could adapt to the harsh environment quicker then any human could.

Meryl didn't reply, she simply looked to the distance as the glaciers slid past. She was actually going to see Solid Snake's home. She felt like a giddy groupie, and mentally told herself to get it together. The last thing she wanted to do was turn into some slobbering teenager. Snake obviously didn't go for that sort of thing...

Neither of them were sure how much time had passed exactly, but the sun was high in the sky when a small black shape appeared on the horizon. The sturdy looking building grew larger, and Meryl found herself surprised to find that this was Snake's home. It was so... quaint. Nothing like what she'd expected a hero like him to live in.

The sound of howling echoed around them as the engine cut off. Snake barked a few commands towards the back of the building and the sounds died down.

"Your dogs?" Meryl asked, swinging one stiff leg over the vehicle and stretching. Every muscle groaned in protest, but it felt good to move her body again. Her arms and face felt frozen as she tried to warm them up by hugging herself tightly. Snake led the way inside, pushing the door open easily. It hadn't been fixed since Campbell's operatives had busted it down and dragged him off to Moses...

The door opened straight into the main room, Meryl nervously followed Snake's lead and stepped inside. The windows were only partly covered by thick curtains, casting slated light over the small brown chairs and single two-seated sofa in the middle of the room. A half-empty bookshelf stood right beside the door. Meryl curiously browsed the covers, finding that most were simply dictionaries in different languages. She knew a few herself, Spanish and French she'd learnt by the age of fourteen. She had been brushing up on some Russian before being called to Shadow Moses Island, and sure enough, planted between some Arabic looking text and a book so worn she couldn't read the cover was a 'Teach yourself Russian' beginner's book.

Snake tramped his way through the main room, not caring that snow was being soaked into the thinning moss coloured carpet. Meryl walked through the room much more slowly, trying to take everything in. If she was going to understand Snake, then where better for clues to his psyche then his own home?

The walls were a rich red-brown; mahogany. There were no pictures or decorations, and the furniture was pretty sparse too. He only seemed to own the essentials. A stone fireplace that stood beneath the stairs leading to the next floor took centre place in the room, again there were no photographs adorning its small shelf. Meryl suddenly felt like the place was almost lonely; empty of life within the four walls she stood surrounded by.

More barking brought her out of her thoughts. She followed Snake's footsteps through the room, across a surprisingly clean kitchen, and down a few stairs leading out into the largest room of all. The floor was made of concrete and the windows were high above her head at least by a metre or so. Along one side of the room was a long chain-mail fence, holding back what seemed to be a legion of very large, thick-coated dogs.

A few of them caught her scent, or heard her enter, she wasn't sure which. The closest to her padded right up to the fence and attempted to stick its wet nose through the small hole, sniffing the air curiously. The others watched silently, obviously trying to gauge whether she was a threat to their home and master. When Snake grumbled a few words to those nearby and didn't react to her presence, the dogs clearly assumed she was welcome and turned away. Uninterested.

"How many to you have?" Meryl asked as Snake moved to the wall beside her, pulling a key from its hook.

"About a dozen. All males... they're good dogs..." he replied in muted tones.

The one who's nose was still trying to wiggle its way through the fence suddenly whined loudly. Meryl wondered if they understood what was about to happen. Could dogs miss their old masters? Or did they forget?

Watching Snake open the gate and call them all out was almost heart-breaking, especially when he opened the large double-door leading towards the mountains and tried to usher them out. They each sat or stood, heads cocked to one side, and whined.

Meryl watched as Snake clenched his jaw, visibly grinding his teeth. The dogs seemed to sense that he was getting angry, but none made to leave the shelter of their kennels. Suddenly, something warm touched Meryl's hand; she jumped and looked to her side, only to find the same dog that had been trying to reach her before sitting beside her leg, panting happily as if expecting some treat.

A lump suddenly formed in her throat.

"Maybe we should go in the other room..." Meryl voiced tenderly. She'd never really considered her self a 'dog-person', but something about the way these animals adored their master... knowing it was impossible, she still found herself wanting to take them with her!

Snake nodded, commanding the dogs to stay as he took Meryl by the arm and led her back to the kitchen, firmly closing the door behind them.

"Will they be okay...?" Meryl asked gently.

Snake's voice was a carefully controlled monotone when he spoke. "Yeah. They'll go when they get hungry enough..."

They both ended up back in the main room, the door still slightly ajar. Meryl hadn't realised how cold it was inside the house until a strong breeze brushed up against her exposed arms. Along with the chill she realised she was feeling a little... light-headed.

"You er, don't have anything I could wear do you?" she queried.

Snake eyed her for a moment, they both knew he'd having nothing that fit. Still, she could roll up the sleeves of a jacket of his or something. Anything was better then the blasted body-warmer.

Snake suddenly stepped forward, pulling the gloves from his hands he ran them over Meryl's arms. His eyes widened with worry, "You're freezing!" he hissed, as if admonishing someone. Himself, probably.

"It's not that bad" Meryl began to say, but her argument was countered when she was pulled into his arms and, next to his still, warm body, realised she was shivering dreadfully. "Okay, maybe I could do with a bigger coat." she joked.

"Be serious. I need to warm you up before you get sick. You can't go back outside like this"

Snake quickly pulled a large throw-over from the back of the nearest chair. He then strode over to the door and kicked it shut, jamming it with a few books from the shelf next to him so the wind couldn't blow it open. Meryl suddenly began shivering more violently now, feeling her teeth chattering together she clamped her jaw shut only to find her facial muscles ached painfully.

Snake crossed the room in three large strides and bundled her up in his arms, grumbling to himself. He rubbed at her arms, back and then – to Meryl's surprise – even her legs. She had a feeling that not all the shivers were caused by potential hypothermia any more. Until her legs gave way beneath her anyway.

Snake caught her in a messy bundle, easily lifting her weight off the ground. Meryl realised he was leading her towards the stairs beside the fireplace and flinched. She wasn't stupid. She knew the quickest way to warm up her body was with hot water. She'd have to undress before diving in, she wouldn't have anything to wear when they left again if her clothes got wet!

Sure enough Snake kicked open a door that led into a modest sized bathroom. Meryl's eyes fell to the shower on her left. To her horror she noticed that the sliding doors were clear glass. She'd been trained to suppress her modesty, but right at that moment she could feel the blush filling her cheeks. At least she thought she could. Catching sight of herself in the small mirror opposite, she gasped as she realised how pale she looked! The very edges of her lips were almost blue... and she could feel herself getting a little sleepy...

"C'mon Meryl, keep your eyes open. Stand up!" Snake barked at her, placing her feet on the ground. Her knees buckled instantly and she began to slide down the wall before Snake caught her under her arms. She tried to tell him something, but it only came out as a half mumble.

"Clothes... nothing else... can't wear wet..."

Snake sighed, knowing they couldn't get out of Alaska without arousing suspicion if Meryl was dressed in clearly ill-fitting clothes. They had to blend in when they reached the airport. Which meant either sticking around long enough for her clothes to dry out... or simply not getting them wet.

Trying to act as if undressing an eighteen year old girl in his bathroom was nothing, Snake loosened the blanket he'd thrown around her shoulders and unzipped her body-warmer. Meryl jumped, a dull pink shading her cheeks.

"Can you do it yourself?" Snake asked, pushing the jacket from her shoulders.

Meryl tried to lift her arms, which suddenly felt weighted down by some invisible force. Leaning forward she almost head-butted Snake, who was still leaning over her wearily, and attempted to undo her belt.

She fell back against the wall with a heavy sigh, shaking her head. Snake grunted in affirmation and moved closer, beginning to undo her belt buckle. He felt Meryl stiffen against him and smiled as reassuringly as he could.

"Relax, I'm not going to molest you" he joked, only to regret it as something flashed in Meryl's eyes. The memory of her in his arms after he'd killed Liquid came rushing back...

Things even worse then torture. Pain... and shame.

He mentally kicked himself as Meryl quickly looked away, avoiding his gaze.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "stupid joke."

Meryl simply nodded, knowing he hadn't meant any harm. The atmosphere between them had radically changed from mildly uncomfortable to almost painful, especially as Snake began to ease off her boots and cargo-pants. Meryl lifted her hips reflexively before hooking her thumbs into the edges.

"I can d-do it" she stammered, "Turn on the water"

Snake did as she asked, politely turning his back as she wiggled free from her bottoms. Sighing as she struggled to shuffle them from her feet, she ended up letting out a small giggle between her chattering teeth as she remembered the last time she'd been bottomless in a bathroom.

"What?" Snake asked curtly. She couldn't be on the verge of freezing to death if she was laughing.

"Nothing... just, not like y-you've not seen me... like this before!"

Snake rolled his eyes at himself in the mirror, which made him think of their first proper meeting (when she hadn't pointed a gun in his face.)

"You weren't so shy then," he pointed out.

"And y-you weren't such a... gentleman... help me m-move okay"

Snake turned and knelt beside Meryl as she tried to pull herself upright against the wall. She wasn't having much luck since her legs were incapable of supporting her weight. Snake slid one arm around her waist and used the other to steady her as she rose. Meryl managed to shuffle forward and into the shower, only to gasp and curse loudly as the water hit her skin.

"That freakin' _burns_!"

Snake began to laugh, almost letting go of her in the process. Meryl wobbled dangerously on her feet for a few seconds before he took her more firmly in his arms. Of course this meant that he too was now under the spray of the water, fully clothed. To him the water was simply hot, but he could imagine how it would sting against Meryl's cold skin. Still noticing that she was shivering, he began rubbing her arms and back rapidly, trying to work some heat back into them.

Meryl definitely felt her _face_ flush with heat at least.

The water kept falling, mostly onto Meryl, but Snake was soon soaked. His sneaking suit would of course keep the water from most of his body and dry quickly once he'd stepped out of the shower, but the body warmer was heavy with water and his hair had flattened against his forehead and cheeks. Meryl, still feeling a little sleepy and dazed, brought one hand up to push the dark strands from his face. Snake's hands paused on her back, feeling the curve of her spine through the fabric of her shirt.

One simple motion had brought them both to stillness; and neither were sure if it was the good or bad kind. For a while they simply stood beneath the hot water, letting it warm their bodies and soak their clothes as they watched each other. Meryl's hair was plastered across her face and nose, obscuring her eyes from seeing Snake's face clearly. Mimicking her earlier movement, Snake brought up his hand to push the hair away... he wasn't sure if he'd meant for it to continue moving over her cheek to cup her face, but it did. She wasn't shivering any more, and her skin had taken on a healthy pink glow instead of cream-blue.

He'd meant to tell her that she was probably okay now, that perhaps they should get dressed and dried quickly so they could leave in his truck and get to the airport before the day ended. It hadn't been his plan to lean forward and pause just millimetres from her lips, watching as beads of warm water slid down over her lips. Meryl had frozen in his arms; only her chest moved with the rise and fall of her rapid breaths.

"Just tell me... if you want me to stop..." Snake told her softly. Meryl spend half a second thinking of the repercussions of her actions before deciding to just _go for it_.

She closed the space between them quickly, her lips crashing into his hard. Snake didn't hesitate with the sudden assault to his mouth, but reciprocated with as much heat and speed as she was showing him.

His hand was no longer on the curve of her back, but under her shirt and exploring the expanse of smooth skin he'd long forgotten the touch of. What would she think of his own battle-scarred and aged skin? He'd soon find out since she was suddenly hurrying with stiff fingers to release the knots and buckles keeping him in his suit. Snake helped her, releasing the straps around his legs as Meryl pushed his body warmer off his shoulders and onto the floor. It didn't take long to get the outer parts of his suit off... but the rest was a bit more difficult. A small, concealed zip was located just inside the neck of the suit. Snake reached up to undo it as Meryl's eyes followed. She reached out to help him ease the suit off over his chest, pull his arms free and push it down to his waist. By this point Snake had paused.

"What's wrong?" Meryl breathed a little huskily.

Snake shrugged uneasily, feeling the hot water from the shower against his bare back. "Didn't... you have psychotherapy to... you know, whatever it was you said."

Meryl let out a relieved laugh, glad he wasn't changing his mind. "Truth be told..." she informed him, running a finger across a thin scar over his collar-bone, "I always skipped those sessions."

Snake blinked, a little surprised by the way Meryl was looking at him now. He'd seen her staring a few times, but her eyes had always glimmered with... adoration. Idolisation even! Now they were... dark. Heated. Watching him like a predator. Meryl might be young but he could tell she wasn't as inexperienced as one might think!

"You really want to do this?" he checked, still feeling a little tense about the idea of an eighteen year old undressing him in the shower. Shit.. eighteen...

His thoughts didn't get much further as Meryl's hand reached down and stroked the crotch of his suit. Snake groaned, eyes closing momentarily. It had been _so_ long... he had to get out of the damn suit. The pressure against his body was too much to handle.

Meryl pulled at the waist as Snake worked his legs free. It didn't take long for him to be kicking it out of the shower and onto the bathroom floor. They only paused for a short moment as Meryl's eyes ran over his worn body. To her, even with all its scars and imperfections caused by a long, hard life, it was still perfect.

Snake moved forward, placing his hands on her hips. "Your turn" he growled against her ear, making her smile mischievously. Meryl lifted her arms above her head to let Snake pull her wet shirt from her body. It landed behind them with a wet thumping sound, but was easily ignored since, the second Snake had dropped the shirt, their arms were wrapped around each other; touching and stroking as their lips met and parted, tongues mimicking the work of their hands. It didn't take much longer for Meryl to be fully undressed by Snake's impatient hands. Seconds later she found herself lifted from the ground and pressed against the shower wall, her legs wrapped firmly around Snake's waist as he supported her light weight.

They moved quickly together, both impatient and desperate to taste and feel as much as they could. Their hearts raced, ears filled with the sounds of rushing blood which had only ever come to either of them before whilst they faced an opponent with a gun in his hand. Now they were only facing each other, their only weapons were their hands, nails, lips and teeth as they explored in a frenzy of heat, steam and water.

They lost all sense of time and place, the urgency of their escape from Alaska lost the need of their bodies. When each of them finally released their final sighs of fulfilment, leaning raggedly against the wall, even the knowledge that they were still in danger couldn't dampen their glow.

Meryl ran her fingers through the back of Snake's hair, letting her fingertips trail down his back lightly. He groaned against her shoulder, casually bucking against her hips in response.

"Well," Meryl grinned as she eyed the assortment of clothing spread across the floor, "I think we're both plenty warm now!"

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to metal gear or its characters etc.**

AN: Written as a challange, I blushed my way through the end. Explicit lemons aren't my thing, and I have to have some kind of plot it seems! Hope you enjoy this 'lemon'.


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